The Seen and the Unseen

Often in debates regarding government programs, the advocates thereof usually fail to account for what is unseen — i.e. for what might have been in the absence of this or that government destruction.

Recently, Stephen Hawking made this error when he said that “he would not be alive if it weren’t for NHS”; he does not account for what would have existed in its place: the superior medical facilities that would have existed in the unseen free market.

The irony of all this is that despite Mr. Hawking’s protestations, the fact remains that one of the things that was very nearly “unseen” by the NHS was in fact Dr. Hawking himself.

If we lived under laissez-faire, Mr. Hawking probably wouldn’t be in the position he is in. His brilliant (but compartmentalized mind) would be transferred to a brand new designer body and he would be living in perfect health.

Its amazing that a man so smart in one field can be so oblivious in another.

“Had that progress started earlier and remained unfettered until this day…”

Exactly. I think that if you take Bastiat’s Broken Window fallacy and apply it historically as in “what would have happened if the US was never corrupted by Progressivism and remained largely free economically” you can arrive at the conclusion that we would have been far more technologically advanced than we are today. Would it be at the sci-fi level? I don’t know. But major breakthrough’s in medicine and longevity science may have been made. Of course you can’t apply the Broken Window fallacy the way I described because philosophy is the major factor driving history and there was no way that the Progressive Era could have been avoided given the state of Post-Kantian philosophy.

Still for a guy with Hawking’s intelligence, couldn’t he be a bit smarter than defending one of the greatest political failures of the last 60 years, namely socialized medicine? Just like Einstein, brilliant in one area and totally clueless elsewhere.

National Security Workforce to Address ‘Intersectionality’: do you ever get the sense that you’re in a waking nightmare? Money quote from the memo: “Our greatest asset in protecting the homeland and advancing our interests abroad is the talent and diversity of our national security workforce.”

Last Week Tonight on Donald Trump: bit long, but great takedown of the Trump mythos. In a more rational political environment, this would have killed his presidential campaign. I’m not sure it’ll make any difference.

A Responsibility I Take Seriously: nominee must be “without any particular ideology or agenda” and have “a keen understanding that justice is not about abstract legal theory, nor some footnote in a dusty casebook.” I sure hope the Republicans can hold the line on his nominations.

Trigger Warnings in Annapolis: I’m not sure why I expected the service academies to be bastions of academic freedom, but I did. It’s much worse than the universities since they’re far more hierarchical.

Announcing the Twitter Trust & Safety Council: this is within their rights, of course. Given the leftist leanings of the company and its assembled Council of Goodspeech, I suspect that some groups will get a pass and some will face suppression. Chilling at any rate.